Computer, internet and telecommunications based network

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for a computer and telecommunication network which can receive, send and manage information from or to a subscriber of the network, based on the subscriber&#39;s configuration. The network is made up of at least one cluster containing voice servers which allow for telephony, speech recognition, text-to-speech and conferencing functions, and is accessible by the subscriber through standard telephone connections or through internet connections. The network also utilizes a database and file server allowing the subscriber to maintain and manage certain contact lists and administrative information. A web server is also connected to the cluster thereby allowing access to all functions through internet connections.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is continuation of application Ser. No. 13/784,779,entitled, “Computer, Internet and Telecommunications Based Network,”filed Mar. 4, 2013, which is a continuation of application Ser. No.13/350,712, entitled “Computer, Internet and Telecommunications BasedNetwork”, filed Jan. 13, 2012, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 12/697,869, entitled “Computer, Internet and TelecommunicationsBased Network”, filed Feb. 1, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,098,600, whichis a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/877,366, entitled“Computer, Internet and Telecommunications Based Network”, filed Jun.25, 2004, now abandoned, which is a continuation application ofapplication Ser. No. 09/033,335, entitled “Computer, Internet andTelecommunications Based Network”, filed Mar. 2, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No.6,775,264, which claims priority to Application Ser. No. 60/040,056,entitled “Network and Voice Controlled Telephony Systems,” filed Mar. 3,1997, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. Thesubject matter in the above-identified co-pending and commonly ownedapplications is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a telecommunication system, and morespecifically, the present invention relates to a network system based oninternet, computer and telecommunication standards, utilizing internetand computer technology, a graphical user interface, integratedtelecommunication applications and interactive voice recognitiontechnology, facilitating the computation and telecommunication of voiceand electronic data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Individuals and business people seek to communicate with each other,obtain useful information, interact commercially and entertainthemselves in an increasingly mobile society. In order to fulfill theseneeds, one requires the ability to send and receive messages, accessinformation and entertainment, conduct business transactions, organizedaily schedules and stay in touch with homes and offices from almostanywhere, at any time, as easily as making a telephone call.

Continued demand for products and services that address these needs isevidenced by the increasing number of electronic devices, and theexplosive growth of the internet and network services. Advances inwireless telecommunication technologies led to the development of suchdevices as personal digital assistants, and enabled the growth of pagingand cellular telephone networks. Devices such as notebook andsub-notebook computers with modems (both wireline and wireless) haveallowed mobile professionals to connect to their PCs from almost anylocation, as well as to access on-line information and electronic mailservices while traveling worldwide.

In addition, communication and information needs have stimulated thegrowth of the internet, on-line networks and corporate intranets. Thesenetworks now host a variety of services such as e-mail, databasesearching, conferencing, electronic commerce, games, software librariesand electronic newspapers and magazines. However, despite theproliferation of communication devices and the development of theinternet, on-line networks and corporate intranets, significant barriersremain to fulfilling user needs for access to and management ofpersonal, professional and public information.

The hardware designs and software technologies which enable today'scommunication are complex. Information, though widely available, can beeither inaccessible or accessible only by navigating through a host ofphone systems, operating system platforms, databases and networks. As aresult significant amounts of time and effort are required of those whouse and depend on these devices, networks and services to communicateand obtain information.

The problem of accessing and processing all of the information availablefrom communication devices, networks and services is particularly acutefor mobile business professionals. Today's mobile professional, workingout of the home or small office, may have a cellular phone, a pager, acomputer, a fax machine, an electronic mailbox on the Internet, and avoice-mail service. Whether on the road, in a plane or at the office,success for the mobile professional depends in large part on the abilityto easily and quickly access, sort through and respond to the messagesdelivered to each of these communication devices, and to obtaininformation necessary to the conduct of business from proliferatingnetworks and services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a network system, which is based on internet,computing and telecommunications standards, utilizing computer andinternet technology, an innovative graphical user interface, integratedcommunication applications and interactive voice recognition technology.The present invention is a unified messaging service which will beaccessible from any standard communication device (telephone, computeror internet), and will give the user intuitive voice command ofpersonal, professional and public information.

This unified messaging service is a useful tool to those whose time andresources are limited and for whom communication is critical, such asmobile business professionals in the small office, home office market.The mobile business professional must maintain access to personal andprofessional information and developments, respond to customers andcommunicate with colleagues, family and friends at any time and from anylocation. The unified messaging service is designed to meet theseobjectives by offering a single point of access to all communications,integrated with personal information management tools and customizedpublic content delivery.

Small office, home office professionals, most of whom do not have accessto dedicated information management systems or the benefit ofadministrative support staff, may derive unique value from this sharednetwork solution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention are explained below withreferences to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the hardware platform embodyingthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the internet platform embodyingthe present invention;

FIG. 3 is a general application flow chart embodying the presentinvention; and

FIG. 4A-4R are detailed application flow charts embodying the presentinvention.

FIG. 5A-5B are the functional block diagrams for the computer telephonyplatform and network architecture embodying the present invention.

FIG. 6 is the software architecture embodying the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a network system that works, among otherthings, as your voice-mail system, using an 800/888 number that receivesall your calls, faxes, pages and e-mail. The system provides a contactdatabase facilitating the placing of calls, screening of calls, andtracking you down wherever you are.

Regardless of how the message was transmitted, every message isdelivered to you through a single source, whether telephone, internet orcomputer. You can also review your latest call records and billinginformation and change or add to your phone listings, contact numbersand service preferences through this source.

The present invention utilizes a fault resilient redundant system,residing in two separate sites. There are multiple T-3 (45 Mbps)facilities going into each of those sites. Both sites sit on afiber-channel fiber optic loop, which is theoretically “self healing” incase of a disaster and can route a phone call to either facility,depending on where the route is broken.

The configuration at each site is a cluster of servers. FIG. 1 is ablock diagram of the hardware platform showing one of these clusters 10which consists of some voice servers 12, some mirrored Sybase databaseservers 14, and some web servers 16 where the web access and servicesare located. The computers (not shown) are 200 MHz Intel-based 19″rackmount servers running a combination of Solaris and SCO UNIXoperating systems. The voice server 12 includes certain functions, suchas telephony, automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech,conferencing, etc. Subscribers are connected to these clusters by eithernormal telephone connections or by internet connections.

Each cluster can serve about 10,000 customers. The system is open-endedallowing for the addition of subscribers as needed. Further the designfacilitates the easy addition of hardware and software.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the internet platform. The system may beaccessed via the internet instead of a normal telephone connection(voice or touchtone). The subscriber can access the web server 18through an internet firewall 20. The subscriber merely enters thesystem's web site and then can access his account through a securityprogram. Once in his account, the subscriber can access various featuressuch as playing voice mail, reading e-mail and faxes, managing contactsand schedules, among other services. Further, the system can provide aprivate line 22 for corporate and other subscribers which can enter theweb server 18 through an extranet firewall 24.

FIG. 3 shows a general application flow chart for an incoming call 26 tothe system. The incoming call 26 whether by telephone connection orinternet connection is directed either to customer service 28 (throughan automatic call distribution-ACD), fax 30, call routing 32, orconference 34 function. Call routing 32 is determined by the incomingcall control 38, previously set by the subscriber, and can include amessage and notification to the subscriber, call screening, callwaiting, and the transfer of the call. Further, if the incoming call 26is a subscriber 36, the system will provide additional functions to thesubscriber, such as controlling incoming calls 38, including callscreening, call waiting and transferring calls. The subscriber may setpriorities to certain callers allowing only certain callers to reach thesubscriber while all others are sent to voice-mail to record a messagefor playback later.

Also, the subscriber will be able to manage 40 his account. Managing 40includes setting the options for telephone calls 42, setting the optionsfor sending and receiving messages, faxes and e-mail 44, managing thedatabase containing the subscriber's contacts and other lists 46, andsetting the parameters for outgoing call and setting up conferences 48.

FIGS. 4A through 4R show a more detailed flowchart of the presentinvention. FIG. 4A shows the First Menu encountered by a subscriber oran individual calling the system's 800 telephone number. The caller isexplained the different options and then the system, if requested,attempts to recognize the subscriber or party's name or extension thatthe caller is trying to reach.

FIG. 4B shows the Party Menu which allows the caller to begin thetransfer to the party hr is trying to reach, leave a message, or, if thecaller is a subscriber, open his mailbox. FIG. 4C shows the Mailbox Menuwhich allows the subscriber to listen to his messages, leave a message,make a call (using the database), dial a telephone number, request thesystem to follow the subscriber, transfer calls, and set other personaloptions, including the greeting, security codes, etc.

FIG. 4D shows the Listen to Messages Menu which allows the subscriber tolisten to, forward, or return the message, along with other options suchas adding a contact, etc. FIG. 4E shows the Message Menu such asforwarding the message, providing caller identification information, andupdating the contact database.

FIG. 4F shows the Return a Call Menu which will attempt to use calleridentification to return the call.

FIG. 4G shows the Leave a Message Menu which allows the caller to leavea message to the intended party. FIG. 4H shows the After Record MessageMenu which allows the caller to listen to the message, re-record themessage, send the message, or cancel the message. FIG. 4I shows the MakeCall Menu which allows the subscriber to dial a number, cancel, orattempt to obtain a contact and transfer to that contact.

FIG. 4J shows the Dial a Number Menu which allows the subscriber to diala telephone number. FIG. 4K is the Call Transfers Menu which allows thesubscriber to transfer incoming calls to either his calleridentification, a telephone number, or some other number of choice. FIG.4L is the Follow Me Menu which allows the subscriber to receive callswherever he may be located. FIG. 4M shows the Notification Menu whichallows the subscriber to be notified either by pager or e-mail incertain situations. FIG. 4N shows the Telephone Numbers Menu whichallows the subscriber to dial a telephone number either by depressingthe telephone keypad or speaking the number.

FIG. 4O shows the Record a New Greeting Menu which allows the subscriberto record, listen, or re-record a greeting which a caller will hear uponreaching the subscriber. FIG. 4P shows the Name Recording Menu whichallows the subscriber to set a particular name in the system. FIG. 4Qshows the Personal Options Menu which allows the subscriber to changethe security code, the name recording, and the personal greeting. FIG.4R shows the Set Security Code Menu which allows the subscriber to set anew security code.

FIG. 5A shows the computer telephony platform in accordance with FIG. 1in more detail. FIG. 5B shows the network architecture in accordancewith FIG. 2 in more detail. FIG. 6 shows the software architectureutilized in the present invention.

The system provides three ways for the subscriber to handle hiscommunications. First and foremost is the voice recognition softwareusing natural voice recognition (phonemes based), not pattern based asmany of the current systems utilize. Therefore, the system does not haveto be trained to identify your voice. Second, the subscriber may use thestandard telephone touchtones. And third, the subscriber can utilize theinternet to access a secure web site.

The system can act as a “follow me” service, capable of tracking youdown whether you're at home, the office, airport, in a hotel room, inanother office or in your car. The subscriber can configure the systemto follow him, or the subscriber can disengage the follow me with asimple command. It also lets you know who is calling before you acceptthe call.

As for Web connections, you can boot up your computer, sign onto theinternet, go through the system's secure web site and play your voicemails, read your e-mail and faxes, manage your contacts and scheduleconferences. The website thus becomes a unified-messaging system. If youget a message from somebody who's not in your address book and you wantto call him or her, you just go to the web site again and add a contact.

If you're on the secure website and you walk away, the system even timesout after a few minutes so no one can sit at your computer and obtainyour messages and contacts without your permission.

While on the system's web site, you'll be communicating over theinternet via the Secure Socket Layer (SSL), a transport level technology(developed by Netscape) for authentication and data encryption between aWeb server and a Web browser. SSL sends data over a “socket,” a securechannel at the connection layer existing in most TCP/IP applications.

The system also utilizes text-to-speech so you can listen to your e-mailover the phone, or the subscriber can display his e-mail on his computerwhere he can reply to it and send e-mail to his contacts with audio(using audio attachments). Further, using Vosaic's internet audioprogram, the system can deliver voice mail via streaming audio over theinternet using Java without a plug-in.

During a session on the web site, using text-to-speech, you could typein a name like “Harry Newton” and his phone number so that, when youeventually use the system the phone and you say, “call Harry Newton atthe office,” the system will recognize the name and dial the number youkeyed in previously. Based on what you input now (“Harry Newton”) iswhat the system utters later and compares the phonemes of what you inputnow to what you'll be speaking later.

The system also facilitates conference calls by allowing the subscribertwo ways in which to set up a conference call. First, inbound conferencecalls can be set up for 32 people if you've registered a pre-scheduledmeeting time. Subscribers call in to the system to get an assignedconference number. The conference participants then call in and asks to“join the conference”. The system then asks for a conference number,which is entered via touchtones. All the parties are then connected andthe conference begins.

Second, outbound conference calls can also be set up, even if you're “onthe fly.” Whether you're at your desk, at a hotel or even a phone booth,you can simply dial up and tell the system to “set up a conferencecall.” Then you only have to dial up all the various parties to connecteach of them to your conference.

The present invention is a compilation of hardware and software,including voice processing using Dialogic's SCSA extended bus andboard-level resources, Purespeech speech recognition running on DialogicAntares boards, and database management using Sybase System 10 and 11.Further, the system utilizes data networking, particularly TCP/IP anddistributed systems, object-oriented design and programming,multi-processing with Intel hardware, SCO UNIX and Solaris operationsystems, Java and JavaScript languages, US and international longdistance protocols, internet and web protocols, credit and paymentprocessing, a help desk, customer service system, and network andservice management.

For the voice and fax processing servers, the system relies on Dialogichardware, including, voice boards, Antares cards (for speech recognitionand fax) and digital switching cards. The system also uses the SCSAextended bus. The Purespeech ASR algorithms, which are used for speechrecognition, run on the Antares cards plugged into the computers runningthe Solaris OS.

The system combines state-of-the-art speech recognition, computer andtelephony technology. Along with the ability to recognize an extensiveset of simple, intuitive, speaker-independent speech commands andrespond by performing a wide variety of complex tasks. Each subscriberhas their own secure Web page on which all the features can be accessed,allowing almost every aspect of the present invention to be maintainedon-line.

Subscribers can use voice commands to (1) build, edit and manage theircontact lists, (ii) review, play back, read, reply to and/or reroutevoice mail and e-mail, (iii) schedule conference calls with 800 numberaccess, and (iv) maintain an itemized calling log listing all calls witha running total of all charges.

The system also transfers calls as instructed or upon command willfollow the subscriber according to predetermined contact numbers foroffice, home, cellular, pager or other designated locations. Every timea subscriber calls in, the system logs the originating number for theinbound call and then uses that number to re-contact the subscriber.

In accordance with the present invention, every subscriber orparticipant is given their own 800 number that is then used by allcontacts calling in to the subscriber. The 800 number can also be usedin scheduling conference calls for up to 32 participants on a given dayand time. Each participant uses the 800 number and calls in to join theconference call, thereby effecting call conferencing for a fraction ofthe cost otherwise incurred.

Basically, the system provides a unified solution to the many variedcommunications and messaging devices used daily by mobile professionalsand active consumers. With simple voice commands, subscribers can easilyaccess and respond to all of their communications and messaging media inthe same session.

The system takes inbound calls and contacts the subscriber, using calltransfer or follow me features, and advises the subscriber of the call,the number of the calling party and/or the callers identity from thesubscribers contact list. If the subscriber is on the telephone, thesystem will whisper the pending call information, giving the subscriberthe option of taking the call or sending the caller into voice mail. Thesubscriber can also set priorities for certain calls which the systemwill follow, permitting selected calls to be put on call waiting,transferred or directed through call forwarding, while other calls aredirect to voice mail messaging. Subscribers can conveniently make callsfrom their contact list by voice commands giving the contacts name and,if applicable, the location to be called (i.e. “home,” “office,”“cellular,” etc.)

Subscribers can access and play back their voice mail from any telephoneor from their personal Web page. Voice mail messages can be saved,retrieved, deleted or rerouted to other individuals, groups or broadcastand voice responses can be returned immediately to the caller. Also,e-mail messages can be viewed on the subscriber's personal home page orthe system will read the e-mail to the subscriber from any telephoneusing text-to-speech technology. Subscribers can immediately respond toe-mail with voice messages, marking, saving or deleting messages duringthe same session. E-mail messages can also be sent to any fax machine.Further, subscribers can immediately respond to faxes rather thanwaiting to retrieve copies and delay responses. Incoming faxes arereceived, the subscriber is notified of the arrival of the new fax, thefax can then be stored for later viewing and/or redirected to any faxmachine or e-mail address from the subscribers contact list or any othernumber. Subscribers can also be notified of any incoming communicationsand messages by pager, whether an inbound call, voice mail, e-mail orfax.

The system will automate conference calling and eliminate the need forconference call operators or complex, confusing PBX systems. Thesubscriber remains in control and can add or drop callers, mute the calland otherwise control all aspects of the conference call. Bypre-scheduling conference calls by date and time, subscribers can notifyparticipants, giving them an 800 number to call and join the conference.Up to 32 participants can be included in the present conference callfeature.

The system further acts as an efficient secretary retaining completecontact logs of all call statistics. The subscriber maintains thecontact list using simple voice or keyboard commands and can establishcontact groups for broadcast communications and setting up conferencecalls. The contact database is easily accessible to all features.

The system includes a feature which enables subscribers to retrieve ondemand or at predetermined intervals selected information from theinternet or on-line service providers, allowing subscribers to establish“filter and forward” criteria specifying the type of informationdesired. A search engine will then retrieve the requested information,transmit the information to the system platform and notify thesubscriber by page, telephone or other desired means. The system willprovide direct access to news, weather, sports, financial, travel andother custom content directly from a computer or any telephone. Thesubscriber will then access the information by all available options,including text-to-speech capabilities.

The system provides long distance and international calling over theinternet through the subscriber's personal home page, therebysignificantly reducing the costs of long distance and internationalcalling. The system further provides video conferencing features.

It is to be understood that the form of this invention is merely apreferred embodiment. Various changes may be made in the function andarrangement of parts; equivalent means may be substituted for thoseillustrated and described; and certain features may be usedindependently from others without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for enabling user-configuredcommunications among user communication devices and a unified networkssystem, wherein the unified networks system facilitates differentcommunication connection types including telephone and web connectionsvia one or more networks, comprising: receiving via the one or morenetworks, communications from user communication devices at one or moreclusters of servers via the different communication connection typesincluding the telephone and web connections, at least one server of oneof the one or more clusters of servers configured withspeaker-independent speech recognition functionality; providing accessto stored data at one or more databases associated with the one or moreclusters of servers, wherein the data is associated with one or morerespective users; receiving a natural speech command from eachrespective user, via a first communication connection type of theunified networks system that is at least one of the telephone and webconnections, at the at least one server configured with thespeaker-independent speech recognition functionality; and recognizingand interpreting the natural speech command received from eachrespective user, by the speaker-independent speech recognitionfunctionality executing one or more transactions according to optionsset for each respective user for sending at least one of messages,faxes, and emails using one of the communication connection types;sending a message and a notification selected from a group of afacsimile, an email message, a text message, a voicemail, a telephonecall, a conference call, and a video, the message and the notificationrelating to the one or more transactions executed for each respectiveuser and sent to the respective user over one or more secondcommunication connections of the unified networks system with at leastone communication connection of the one or more second connections beingat least an other of the telephone and web connections of distinct typefrom the first communication connection over which the natural speechcommand was received, the message and the notification sent to one ormore electronic communication devices associated with the respectiveuser and as designated by options set for the respective user.
 2. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein executing the one or moretransactions for each respective user further comprises: transmitting,via the unified networks system, the message and the notification toelectronic communication capabilities of the one or more electroniccommunication devices including at least a telephone, a computer, afacsimile device, and a mobile device.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe natural speech command initiates flow of the message and thenotification for each respective user at least to the electroniccommunication capabilities associated with the each respective useraccording to network protocols that are supported by the electroniccommunication devices.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:receiving a DTMF signal from one of the electronic communication devicesand wherein executing the one or more transactions for each respectiveuser includes executing an operation based at least in part on the DTMFsignal in addition to the natural speech command.
 5. The method of claim2, wherein executing the one or more transactions for each respectiveuser that is initiated by the natural speech command facilitatesmanagement by each respective user of at least one of a contact, a userprofile, an email, a voicemail, a video, a telephone call, a facsimile,and a text message.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or moretransactions that are executed for each respective user, use at least aportion of the data stored to perform at least an action from a group ofactions including 1) place a telephone call, 2) send an email, 3) send avoicemail, 4) send a facsimile, 5) send a text message, 6) initiate aconference call, and 7) initiate a video conference.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the natural speech command is received from one or moreelectronic communication devices used by the respective user, who is atleast one user with access associated with the one or more databases. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein each respective user via at least thenatural speech command accesses a feature including at least one featurefrom a group of features including: 1) voicemail, 2) an email, 3) afacsimile, 4) a contact, 5) a schedule, and 6) one or more controls fordesignating a plurality of features that execute particular functions.9. The method of claim 1, wherein the unified networks system sends atleast the message and the notification to each respective user via atleast one of IP and non-IP protocols.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe networks system, via the IP and non-IP protocols, supports sendingthe message and the notification that are at least from a group of: anemail, a voicemail, a telephone call, a conference call, a video, a textmessage, and a facsimile.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one ormore clusters of servers include a file server, a web server, a databaseserver, and a voice server configured with the speaker-independentspeech recognition functionality.
 12. A unified networks system enablinguser-configured communications among user communication devices and theunified networks system, wherein the unified networks system facilitatesdifferent communication connections including telephone and webconnections via one or more networks, comprising: one or more serversgrouped in clusters and configured to receive and transmitcommunications relating to users of the unified networks system, via theone or more networks enabling telephone and web communicationconnections, wherein the communications relating to the users arereceived from a plurality of electronic communication capabilitiessupporting a plurality of network protocols associated with the one ormore networks, wherein the one or more servers that are grouped inclusters further comprise: a first server in a first cluster of serversconfigured to store data relating to each respective user; a web serverconnected to the first cluster of servers and configured to provideaccess for each respective user; and a second server in a second clusterof servers, further comprising: a computer with speaker-independentspeech recognition functionality, wherein the computer managescommunications in response to a natural speech input received via afirst communication connection that is one of a telephone connection anda web connection, by processing the natural speech input received fromat least one of the electronic communication capabilities associatedwith each respective user and executing at least one transaction basedat least in part on the natural speech input wherein the at least onetransaction further generates at least a message and a notificationbased on the processing of the natural speech input and according tooptions for each respective user for sending at least one of messages,faxes, and emails, and one of the message and notification are sent viaone or more second communication connections with at least one of theone or more second connections being an other of the telephoneconnection and the web connection of distinct type from the firstcommunication connection, to a respective one of the plurality ofelectronic communication capabilities designated by each respective userby the options.
 13. A unified networks system according to claim 12,wherein the natural speech input is received using one of the pluralityof network protocols and at least one of the message and thenotification is transmitted using a different one of the plurality ofnetwork protocols.
 14. The unified networks system according to claim12, wherein the one or more servers grouped in clusters include a, afile server, a voice server, and a database server, and the secondserver is a voice server.
 15. The unified networks system according toclaim 12, wherein the speaker-independent speech recognitionfunctionality is configured to execute the at least one transactionincluding transmission of the message and the notification to eachrespective user, via the one or more networks, to at least an electroniccommunication capability associated with each respective user, thetransaction relating to at least a portion of the data stored for eachrespective user and the electronic communication capabilities includingat least a telephone, a computer, a facsimile capability, and a mobiledevice.
 16. The unified networks system according to claim 12, whereinthe natural speech input initiates transmission of the message and thenotification to each respective user to one or more of the electroniccommunication capabilities associated with each respective user.
 17. Theunified networks system according to claim 12, wherein at least one ofthe first and second clusters of servers is further configured toreceive a DTMF signal from at least one of the electronic communicationcapabilities associated with each respective user and wherein executingthe at least one transaction includes executing an operation based atleast in part on the DTMF signal in addition to the natural speechinput.
 18. The unified networks system according to claim 12, whereinthe at least one transaction facilitates management by the respectiveusers of, at least one of a contact, a user profile, an email, avoicemail, a video, a telephone call, a facsimile, and a text message.19. The unified networks system according to claim 12, wherein the atleast one transaction uses stored data for each respective user toperform for the each respective user, at least an action of a group ofactions including: 1) a telephone call, 2) an email, 3) a voicemail, 4)a fax, 5) a text message, 6) a conference call, and 7) a videoconference.
 20. The unified networks system according to claim 12,wherein the natural speech input is received from one or more electroniccommunication devices used by the respective users.
 21. The unifiednetworks system according to claim 12, wherein the one or more networksfacilitate sending the message and the notification to the respectiveuser via both IP and non-IP transmission protocols over the one or morenetworks.
 22. The unified networks system of claim 12, wherein the oneor more servers grouped in clusters include a file server, the webserver, and a database server.
 23. The unified networks system of claim12, wherein the one or more networks support transmission of the messageand the notification to each respective user including at least one froma group of: an email, a voicemail, a telephone call, a conference call,a video, a text message, and a facsimile.
 24. The unified networkssystem of claim 12, wherein each respective user accesses, via at leastthe natural speech input, features including at least one of: 1)voicemail, 2) email, 3) a fax, 4) a contact, 5) a schedule, and 6)controls for a plurality of features that execute particular functions.25. A computer-implemented method for enabling user-configuredcommunications among user communication devices and a unified networkssystem, wherein the unified networks system facilitates differentcommunication connections including telephone and web connections,comprising: receiving communications relating to users of the unifiednetworks system at a plurality of clusters of servers from electroniccommunication capabilities used by the users, the plurality of clustersof servers configured to receive the communications over the one or morenetworks and transmit related communications using network protocolssupported by the one or more networks, at least one of the plurality ofclusters of servers comprising a voice server configured withspeaker-independent speech recognition functionality; providing accessto the data stored for each respective user in one or more databasesassociated with the plurality of clusters of servers; receiving naturalspeech input from each respective user via respective electroniccommunication capabilities associated with each respective user at thevoice server, via at least one of a telephone connection and a webconnection; processing the natural speech input at the voice serverusing the speaker-independent speech recognition functionality andexecuting at least certain operations relating to the data stored foreach respective user, wherein the at least certain operations generate amessage and a notification for each respective user and transmit themessage and the notification to the respective electronic communicationcapabilities associated with each respective user, the message and thenotification are transmitted via one or more communication connectionswith at least one of the one or more communication connections being another of the telephone connection and the web connection of distincttype from the at least one of the telephone and web connections on whichthe natural speech input is received and the message and thenotification transmitted according to network protocols supported by therespective electronic communication capabilities.
 26. The method ofclaim 25, wherein the at least certain operations are configured toenable each respective users to manage, at least one of a contact, auser profile, an email, a voicemail, a video, a telephone call, afacsimile, and a text message.
 27. The method of claim 25, wherein theat least certain operations are configured to perform at least one ofactions including:1) a telephone call, 2) an email, 3) a voicemail, 4) afacsimile, 5) a text message, 6) a conference call, and 7) a videoconference.
 28. The method of claim 25, wherein the speech input isreceived via the respective electronic communication capabilities usedby each respective user, wherein the electronic communicationcapabilities include at least one of a telephone, a computer, and amobile device.
 29. The method of claim 25, wherein the one or morenetworks facilitate transmission of the message and the notification foreach respective user via at least one of IP and non-IP transmissionlines.
 30. The method of claim 25, wherein the message and thenotification include at least one of: an email, a voicemail, a telephonecall, a conference call, a video, a text message, and a facsimile andrespective users have access, via at least the natural speech input, toa plurality of features including at least one of a group of featuresincluding:1) voicemail, 2) email, 3) a facsimile, 4) a contact, 5) aschedule, and 6) controls for a plurality of features that executeparticular functions.